In so-called hot-fill packages, a container is filled with hot liquid product and capped while the liquid product is still hot. As the liquid cools, the reduction in liquid volume creates a vacuum within the package—i.e., an internal pressure that is less than the surrounding atmospheric pressure. When the container is of molded plastic construction, the container wall tends to distort inwardly as the liquid cools. This problem is exacerbated when the container is relatively large and/or has flat walls. It has been proposed to provide ribs or channels on the container walls to strengthen the walls against distortion, and to provide vacuum panel areas on the container walls for controlling the areas of distortion under vacuum. These measures have not been entirely effective in containers of larger size. Hot-fill containers of relatively large capacity, such as one-gallon containers, typically are of cylindrical wall construction to take advantage of the inherent strength of a cylindrical wall geometry and to avoid the use of large flat wall panel areas at which distortion can occur.
Another problem in the art, as applied particularly to containers of larger size, involves attachment of bale handles to the container finish to facilitate carrying of the filled container by a consumer. Molded plastic containers typically have a flange that extends circumferentially around the container finish. This flange, often referred to as a capping flange or a support flange, serves a variety of support functions during automated fabrication and handling of the container. Attachment of a bale handle to the container finish beneath the flange obstructs the area beneath the flange and makes these support functions more difficult during container filling and capping, for example.
The present invention involves a number of different aspects that may be implemented separately from or, more preferably, in combination with each other.
A container in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention includes a hollow body having a finish extending from the body. The finish has an open end, at least one external thread for securement of a closure, and a pair of spaced external circumferential flanges on a side of the thread remote from the open end of the finish. A bale handle includes a ring having resilient internal tabs captured beneath the lower of the flanges remote from the open end of the finish, and a handle extending from the ring for carrying the container. The upper flange, which preferably has a greater outside diameter than the lower flange, has an undersurface that is free of obstruction from the bale handle and therefore is adapted to perform support functions for the container after attachment of the bale handle to the container finish.
A one-gallon rectangular hot-fill container in accordance with a second aspect of the invention includes a rectangular body having a front wall, a back wall and opposed sidewalls, a bottom wall with a central push-up feature, an externally threaded finish and a shoulder connecting the finish to the body. The sidewalls have recessed handle areas adjacent to the back wall and flexible hot-fill panels adjacent to the front wall. The back wall has strengthening channels that extend between the handle areas. The front wall has strengthening channels that extend between and into the sidewalls. The body has a pair of spaced channels that extend entirely around the body between the sidewalls, front wall and back wall, and the bottom wall and the shoulder respectively. One of the channels on the front wall extends into the sidewalls between the hot-fill panels on the sidewalls. The rectangular container is specifically adapted for hot-fill applications with minimum wall distortion, and the rectangular geometry of the container body lends itself to close-packing on store shelves with minimum wasted shelf area.